


Unchain The Reactions (Not Ready To Die, Not Yet)

by halfalie



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fantasy AU, Slow Burn, elven Kara, lots of tension, slightly AU kara, the fic no one asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 03:51:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10208993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfalie/pseuds/halfalie
Summary: “It isn’t. Wasn’t. Whatever.” The sky was an odd colour when it was angry, and Kara felt the onset of a storm before it was even going to happen. “The little girl I was helping tried to fight back and help me. It shocked me so I took a dagger in the abdomen.”“Ah,” Lena voiced passively, “the woes of a hero. I assume the rest of these scars are all from stubborn heroics.” Tender fingers traced the white and pink gashes that ran across her stomach and Kara swallowed as they made her way up only to disappear. Seconds later a finger traced the scar on her face and Kara grabbed onto Lena’s wrist as she sat up. Lena’s eyes widened slightly although it did nothing for Kara to loosen her grip or pull herself away.//Elven Assassin Kara AU//





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lenalufor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lenalufor/gifts).



Kara Zor El had two rules: Never reveal your identity and don’t get attached to anyone, ever. In Kara’s world it should have been easier said than done. After all, Kara was cold, detached, strengthened in steel from the horrors she’d seen and done. But if she was honest with herself, she found her rules were hard to keep once one of them had been broken. Because to reveal who she is, the last of a village long forgotten, she had to care about who it was she revealed this to.

Alexandra Danvers, for example. Kara was 23 when she met Alex. Her travels had brought her to warmer climates for the winter, down past the River of Ives and into the Southern Kingdom of Cinis, ruled by House Lane. The grass was greener, the air lighter, but the lack of diversity was evident with every human she passed. While in Cinis, Kara kept to herself, covered her head with the hood of her cape to hide the pointedness of her ears and kept her hand gripped around the pommel of her hidden sword. There hadn’t been an attack on the elven kind since her village was massacred, but Kara didn’t like to take her chances and wore her mouth mask up a little higher than normal.

Alex was a rogue ranger, choosing to help the Lane’s whenever she felt suited for it, which conveniently happened to be when Lady Lucy required assistance. Kara learnt quickly of Alex’s fierce loyalty, and devotion to her job. Kara broke her second rule the very night she met Alex when a fight broke out in the court yard and Alex was surrounded by unhappy scavengers. She debated leaving her to die, but a ranger was just what she needed to help her (at least that’s what she told herself despite having been on her own for the last seven years). Kara broke her other rule when she threw her cape open and unsheathed her sword. It bore the insignia of her house and phrases long forgotten in the elven tongue. Her jaw was set hard and her grip firm, which had been enough to make the men hesitate for a second longer before an all out sword fight broke out.

When the fight was over, and Alex grabbed her by the forearm in a strong shake, Kara hadn’t shied away from showing the girl her silver eyes, and the scar that ran from below the far corner of her right eye down across her lips to the opposite side of her chin. That was how Alex Danvers figured out that Kara is the last of the Zor El Warriors, elven assassins trained from birth to eradicate that which threaten the peace and stability of the four kingdoms. Alex had believed the last Zor El to be a myth, told by parents to scare their children into behaving, but it was hard to mistake the silver eyes attached to such a lethal weapon for anything other than a Zor El.

“Why keep yourself hidden, you have the power and the strength to do good?” Alex questioned one night, muscles aching from the training she had had earlier with Kara.

“People are afraid of—” A deep sigh and then Kara corrected herself, “People were afraid. That’s what got my kind killed. It’s better to hide who I am and do good while no one is watching.”

There was a pause in the conversation, and Alex took a drink of her ale before responding.

“Must get lonely, living your life on the run.”

“I am not trained to depend on the company of others.”

“Bullshit, everyone needs somebody.” Kara stood up then, stepping away from the fire they’d built to pull her hood over her head.

“I’ll take first watch,” she rasped, “Goodnight, Danvers.”

 

That night, Kara promised two things to herself. Number one, she would never break her rules again. And number two, Kara would stop running, face her demons, find and kill those who had massacred her village.

By Gods was Kara ever bad at keeping the promises she made to herself.

                                      *************************************************************************************************************

_Three months later._

It had rained last night, the kind of rain that made it hard to see, hear, or even think. The kind of rain that could drown you if you let it, that washed away sins and repented sinners. The forest floor was damp and wet twigs snapped thickly under the steps of a magnificent black destrier. Fall in the Lapis Kingdom had been unmerciful to Kara and her horse Tulca.

They had had to set up camp in the trees last night, and the rain had done a superb job in soaking everything she had in her kit. Needless to say, she awoke this morning shivering and her body burning a mad fever. She was used to being soaking cold, feverish, teeth clattering, and stomach empty. But she wasn’t used to the emptiness in her chest, the kind that stemmed from being unsuccessful, a complete failure. Subconsciously, she trailed the bandage around her abdomen, soaked red with blood. The cold had made it numb, and for that Kara was grateful, she wasn’t sure how she’d be able to ride the distance she needed to ride today with the jarring pain it caused. She needed to change the bandage though, and wash the wound again. Soon, soon she would get the help she needed, she just needed to get there first.

She ran into a stream about an hour later, could hear it from off the path and was thankful the rain no longer made it hard to hear. Gritting her teeth, she got off her horse and limped to the edge of the river. The wet clothes were a relief to take off and Kara laid everything out so that maybe it could dry a bit and so maybe putting them on wouldn’t cause her to hiss painfully. It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to open wounds, but boy was it ever a fucking bitch to deal with when they happened.

Slowly she slipped into the water, barely managing to muffle a painful groan, her toes curling out in pain as the current rubbed the open wound of her stomach. Her breathing was laboured and Kara forced her head under water (which was warmer than the cold of the rain) before resurfacing and letting out a breath. The girl gritted her teeth and slowly wiped away the thick wet blood on her stomach, mesmerized by the redness that stained the water from her still bleeding wound. Fuck. The feverish beating of her heart drowned out the rest of the noise and Kara let her guards down more than she should have.

“ _Now what brings an Elf to the holy lands of Lapis_ ,” she suddenly heard melodically, spoken in near perfect elvish. It reverberated through the trees, seemed to come from every direction. The voice startled Kara out of her haze and she turned around in the water, hardening her face and standing bold despite her apparent nakedness.

“Show yourself,” she called back strongly in English. Her hand slipped down to the wound in her stomach and she applied pressure where she could.

“You need to come out of the water.”

“Do I?” she rasped out, full of defiance, tilting her head ever so slightly. A quick glance to where she had left her clothes, and her weapons (stupid stupid stupid), confirmed that she was too far now to grab anything.

“You bleed for nothing, Elf,” the voice broke from the trees to the north of her and Kara stepped back when her eyes landed on the owner’s voice. Kara didn’t usually believe in the whole magic bullshit, but she swore for a second she was blinded from a light behind the woman, despite the lack of apparent sunlight. When she could see again, her mouth dropped open just a little bitt. The woman’s pale skin brought out the forest green of her eyes and the red of her lips, and her hair was tied in a loose black braid to one side. It was the gold of her clothing that was more interesting to Kara, a direct contrast with the simple dark green cloak that hooded over the flower crown she had in her hair.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” she finally murmured, pulling her hand away to look at the small knife wound inches from her hips. “I just needed to clean it.” She remembered the other woman’s presence and clenched her jaw again, standing her ground despite the desire to gravitate towards her sword.

“And you have cleaned it. Now step out, Kara Zor El. I promise not to hurt you, unless of course you try to hurt me. But then… that’s fair game now isn’t it,” it was said with a hint of amusement and Kara frowned.

“How do you…Who are you?”

“I am Lady Lena, a priestess of the Kaiiwynn Temple. My sisters buried your village. You are a legend amongst many Kara Zor El, but a grim reminder to our temple of the evil that remains in this world.”

“I’m not evil.”

Lena laughed at that.

“I didn’t mean you, Kara.” Then the laughter stopped and the priestess walked closer to the water, hood falling down to reveal more of her face. “You really should come out of the water and let me take a look at your wound.”

“The last thing I want is to owe your people anything more,” Kara replied, hand still pressed against the warm wound in her torso.

“Well the last thing I want is a dead body in my river,” Lena quipped back. There was a few minutes of stand off silence where Kara’s eyebrows furrowed and Lena starred back, face at ease and a partial smile tugging at her lips. “Besides.. we have information you might be searching for, although,” her eyes shun dangerously, “you already knew that didn’t you.”

Kara bowed her head at that, eyes fixating on the very little blood that still seeped through the cracks of her fingers. The sisters of Kaiiwynn had buried the bodies of her village when Kara had been too blinded by sorrow and hate to care. If any of them had any information on those that were responsible, Kara had to seek them out and find the truth. After all, she had killed people too that day, members of the black riders that had stormed in in the dead night of her ascension and held blades to her people’s throat. And Kara had thought it part of her ascension. Stupid stupid stupid.

Without words she made her way to the edge of the stream and pulled herself out, teeth grinding hard at the straining effort it took. Modesty was lost to Kara though she couldn’t help but notice the pink tinge that covered Lena’s cheek as the girl bit down on her lip and averted her eyes. “Uh.. I’ll,” Lena made to cover her eyes and let out a barely stifled laugh, “let me know when you have undergarments on.”

Kara smirked and grabbed her pants, still wet and cold to the touch. A hiss escaped her lips as she slipped them on but she was distracted by Lena, who had her hands over her eyes and a smile on her face. “And here I thought you probably saw a lot of nudity in your line of work,” she grunted out.

“Oh I do,” Lena’s voice rasped before she scrunched her nose up. “A person’s body is their temple, it’s sacred and I like permission to admire.”

“Wasn’t bothering you earlier.”

“Well what can I say… I was staring at your wound earlier.”

“And now?” Kara ventured as Lena dropped her hands from her eyes and quirked an eyebrow up.

“Now…” There was a pause as Lena’s eyes raked over her body, bare chest and all only to freeze on the thin red slit below her ribcage. “I’m still looking at your wound. Lay down, Kara.”

If Kara had wanted to disregard the command, it was quickly forgotten when Lena appeared before her, hands pushing the girl’s shoulder back. Paired with the buckling of her knees, Kara soon found herself laying down, propped on her elbows as she held her breath.

“ _Relax_ ,” Lena said, elven falling from her lips easily. The woman’s hands were warm against Kayla’s skin as she pressed them down on her stomach and inspected the wound.

“Where did you learn to speak Elvish?” Kayla breathed out after a while. That made Lena stop and look at her, raising her eyebrow again.

“Is that the information you came for?” the priestess joked quietly, eyes back to focusing on Kara’s wound. “I had a lot of time in Kaiiwynn, when I first started out I mean. I like reading and languages.”

Kara nodded, tongue slipping out words she didn’t mean to say, “I can’t read. Much. I can’t read much.”

“Oh? Well I can’t fight, I’m sure our upbringings were very different that way.” Lena swept her cloak to the side and pulled out a small pout from the belt around the waistline of her dress.

“I guess.” Kara watched, enrapt, as she pulled out fabric and what looked like agrimonia along with a needle that made goosebumps rise on the back of Kara’s neck. Her eyes followed as Lena brought the agrimonia up to her mouth and closed her teeth around it. “Let me help,” she said as she took some of the agrimonia out and placed it in her mouth. The taste was more bitter than she remembered it and her tongue pressed hard against the roof of her mouth to prevent the taste from going anywhere. It was hard to linger on the taste when Lena’s fingers were working the paste like substance she’d manage to chew into her wound and Kara’s elbow’s gave out, leaving her back hard against the rocks as pain shot through her body. For a second Kara saw the entire freaking universe behind her eyelids and her fists tightened at her side.

“How did this happen?” she heard from Lena and Kara groaned as she pushed herself back up, only for Lena to push her down again and hold her hand under Kara’s mouth for the paste to be spat into.

“ _Coward_ got lucky, I got distracted. I forgot that Kwanton City was such a…disaster.”

“Distracted? I didn’t think that was in the Zor El vocabulary.” The girl’s fingers worked more of the paste into the wound and Kara let out a stuttered breath.

“It isn’t. Wasn’t. Whatever.” The sky was an odd colour when it was angry, and Kara felt the onset of a storm before it was even going to happen. “The little girl I was helping tried to fight back and help me, so I took a dagger in the abdomen.”

“Ah,” Lena voiced passively, “the woes of a hero. I assume the rest of these scars are all from stubborn heroics.” Tender fingers traced the white and pink gashes that ran across her stomach and Kara swallowed as they made her way up only to disappear. Seconds later a finger traced the scar on her face and Kara grabbed onto Lena’s wrist as she sat up. Lena’s eyes widened slightly although it did nothing for Kara to loosen her grip or pull herself away. Kara finally stood up and grabbed her shirt, painfully putting it on before speaking.

“I assume High Priestess M’gann can still be found in Kaiiwynn?”

Lena nodded. Kara slipped her sword around her waist and tightened it before she moved her cloak over her shoulders and knotted the strings together. A loud click of her tongue brought Tulca trudging through the tree lines and Kara began packing the rest of her belongings into her soaking kit at his side.

“Kaiiwynn’s half a day’s ride away, Kara. That wound needs to be closed.” A hand covered the one that was tightening the strap of her kit and Kara set her jaw before pulling her hand out of Lena’s hold.

“I appreciate your concern Lady Lena, but it’s misplaced. I can take care of myself.” Kara paused after a particularly hard tug to the kit. “Tell me, what is a Priestess doing so far from the temple? If you even are a priestess.”

“There is small village a half hour east of here where a baby was born, I was sent to bring it spiritual enlightenment. Are you so mistrusting of all individuals you meet?”

“Yes. Although… You’ve seen me naked. I think that’s a threshold of trust most people don’t breach.” Not even Alex. _Alex_. How she missed her right now. She would send word to her soon, promised herself that. Kara heaved herself onto Tulca’s back, teeth gritting at the discomfort of the position.

“You’ll exhaust yourself riding with that wound.”

“Well then.. maybe we’ll meet in another stream.” She made to kick her horse into gear but Lena’s hand on her thigh stopped her.

“Kara.. whatever truth you’re seeking in Kaiiwynn just know… you may not like what you find.” And that was the last thing Kara heard before she heeled her horse and Tulca took off into a trot. Although she didn’t look back, Kara felt the other woman’s eyes on her until she disappeared into the tree line.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all, you can find me at lenababepls on tumblr.
> 
> And please leave comments, even if it's just to say you're interested in this story. I'll continue this if there's a show of interest from you lovely readers :)


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